Unscheduled colonoscopy orders lead to missed opportunities for early diagnosis and screening. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of an automated time-released reminder program on conversion of colonoscopy orders to scheduled cases. In this prospective study, we compared patients ordered for a colonoscopy who were enrolled in an automated reminder program (intervention) with a historical cohort of patients ordered for a colonoscopy who did not receive scheduling reminders (control). The intervention group received automated text message and email reminders using a software platform at 1, 7, and 14 days after a colonoscopy order was placed. The percentage of colonoscopies scheduled within 14 days of order placement improved from 66.0% in the control group to 73.4% in the intervention group (p = .001). The percentage of colonoscopies scheduled within 30 days improved from 73.6% to 90.0% (p less then .0001). For colonoscopies ordered by a nongastroenterologist, the percentage of cases scheduled within 30 days of order placement improved from 65.8% in the control group to 90.0% in the intervention group (p less then .0001). There was a 10% decrease in phone calls with endoscopy staff for the intervention group relative to the control group. Automated reminders for colonoscopy scheduling improve efficiency in colonoscopy scheduling.The body size of patients is considered to have an impact on the quality of bowel preparation. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of body mass index (BMI) on bowel preparation and prediction of unprepared patients who underwent colonoscopies. A retrospective study was undertaken with data retrieved from health records at the Center for Gastroenterology and Hepatology in Sulaymaniyah City of 12,527 colonoscopies carried out between February 2012 and December 2018. From the 12,527 records, a total of 9,659 colonoscopy examinations were included in this study. The results showed 21.3% unacceptable colon preparations 15% poor and 6.3% inadequate. Patients with BMI of 25 and greater accounted for 36.1%. No significant association was found between increased BMI with inadequate preparation (odds ratio [OR] 1.104, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.869-1.401, p value .418 and OR 0.988, 95% CI 0.813-1.201, p value .903). However, inadequate preparation could be associated with underweight females, who report constipation, and the elderly. Although there has been shown to be in practice an adverse bias toward patients with a high BMI, this study has shown that an increased body size does not interfere with the quality of bowel preparation or resultant colonoscopy.Rectal cancer surgery has developed to be highly technological and precise. Nevertheless, postoperative symptoms can affect patients for a long time after surgery and might also be persistent. The purpose of this study was to describe the level of postoperative symptoms 6 months after rectal cancer surgery as well as differences in symptoms with regard to surgical procedure. Data from 117 patients recovering from rectal cancer surgery were collected 6 months after surgery using the Postoperative Recovery Profile (PRP) questionnaire measuring self-reported postoperative symptoms. Results showed that the majority of patients had no or mild problems with the 19 symptoms recorded in the questionnaire. There was a significant difference between surgical procedures patients after anterior resection experienced mild problems in gastrointestinal function (physical domain) and interest in their surroundings (social domain), whereas most patients after abdominoperineal resection and abdominoperineal resection with myocutaneous flap showed no problems. In all groups, a considerably high proportion of patients reported severe problems in sexual activity (physical domain). Findings in this study emphasize that healthcare professionals should pay attention to patients recovering from anterior resection especially regarding problems in the gastrointestinal function. Moreover, there is a need to acknowledge eventual sexual dysfunctions in all rectal cancer patients.Bowel preparation is the basis of colonoscopy, and adequate bowel preparation is essential to the success of colonoscopy. Studies have been reported that telephone intervention can improve the quality of bowel preparation, while it remains unclear regarding effectiveness with the elderly. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of telephone intervention on the quality of bowel preparation for colonoscopy in elderly outpatients. In total, 162 outpatients older than 65 years were enrolled and randomly divided into a control group and a study group. Patients in the study group were re-educated through telephone by a specific nurse 2 days before colonoscopy, whereas participants in the control group received education only on the day of appointment. The Ottawa score was used to evaluate the quality of bowel preparation between the two groups. In this study, no significant differences were observed in age, gender, body mass index, educational level, smoking and/or alcohol drinking, waiting time to colonoscopy, reasons for colonoscopy, and colonoscopic findings between the control group and the study group. Participants in the study group had higher adequate bowel preparation and compliance than the control group (83.1% vs. 59.5%, p = .03; 96.4% vs. 74.7%, p less then .001). Univariate analysis showed that only noncompliance with start time was significantly associated with satisfactory bowel preparation in elderly patients. In conclusion, telephone intervention 2 days before colonoscopy can improve the quality of bowel preparation in the elderly.Sub-Saharan African HIV programs have had limited success in engaging men. Crowdsourcing contests may be a useful method to spur men's engagement in HIV services. We evaluated contributions and social media response to a crowdsourcing contest focused on increasing men's engagement in Eswatini HIV services.
We conducted a crowdsourcing contest to gain insight from the public on how HIV campaigns can more effectively engage young (20-40 years old) men in HIV services. Eligible submissions included images, songs, videos, and internet memes. We used standard qualitative methods to examine textual themes from submissions. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/sr59230a.html We examined social media response using Facebook analytics, comparing the number of people reached through crowdsourced HIV messages and the number of people reached through conventional HIV messages.
We received 144 submissions from 83 participants. They represented 55 towns and all four regions of Eswatini. The contest page gained 461 followers on Facebook. Emergent themes included appealing to men's roles as protectors by suggesting that they need to take care of their own health to continue safeguarding their families.